Colleen McGuinness (born May 21, 1977) is an American producer and screenwriter who has worked on the television shows '' 30 Rock'', '' About a Boy'', and ''

Mercy Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French ''merci'', from Medieval Latin ''merced-'', ''merces'', from Latin, "price paid, wages", from ''merc-'', ''merxi'' "merchandise") is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, relig ...

''. After joining ''30 Rock'' in 2011, she shared in its 2013 Emmy nomination for best series as well as in its 2013 and 2014 WGA nominations and 2014 PGA nomination. Together with '' Game of Thrones'' executive producer

Carolyn Strauss Carolyn Strauss (born July 13, 1963) is an American television executive and producer. She was the president of the Home Box Office network's entertainment division until 2008 and was responsible for commissioning series like ''The Sopranos'', '' ...

, she is working with HBO to develop a comedy series based on the novel ''Prep'' by

Curtis Sittenfeld Elizabeth Curtis Sittenfeld (born 1975) is an American writer. She is the author of a collection of short stories, ''You Think it, I’ll Say It'' (2018), as well as six novels: ''Prep'' (2005), the story of students at a Massachusetts prep sch ...

Early life and education

McGuinness was born in Killeen, Texas, and was raised by her grandparents in

Islip, New York Islip ( ) is a town in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the south shore of Long Island. The population was 335,543 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous city or town in the state. The Town of Islip also contains a ...

. McGuinness was a tennis champion in high school. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1999.

Career

McGuinness began her career at

Castle Rock Entertainment Castle Rock Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a label of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself a subsidia ...

and later became a development assistant at

New Line Cinema New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after ...

. McGuinness's early writing credits include story-editor work for prime-time soap opera '' North Shore'' and a staff writer position with Alicia Silverstone's ''

Miss Match ''Miss Match'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Jeff Rake and Darren Star and produced by 20th Century Fox Television, Darren Star Productions, and Imagine Television. It aired in the United States on NBC from Septemb ...

''. In 2004, she scripted the Nintendo DS

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

'' Sprung''. McGuinness was hired by ''30 Rock'' in 2011 and served as producer, co-producer, and writer during the show's final two seasons. She is listed as co-writer (with

Jack Burditt Jack Burditt is an American producer and screenwriter who has worked on television shows like ''Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'', ''Frasier'', '' 30 Rock'', '' Last Man Standing'', ''Modern Family'', and ''The Mindy Project''. He won two Emmy award ...

) of one of the show's 2012 episodes, "

My Whole Life Is Thunder "My Whole Life Is Thunder" is the eighth episode of the seventh season of the American television comedy series '' 30 Rock'', and the 133rd overall episode of the series. It was directed by Linda Mendoza and written by Jack Burditt and Colleen ...

", and as sole writer for another, " St. Patrick's Day". After ''30 Rock'' stopped production, McGuinness worked as a writer and supervising producer for '' About A Boy''. When

Tina Fey Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and playwright. She is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1997–2006) and for creating the ...

started her new production company Little Stranger productions, her company's first sale was an untitled comedy to be written by McGuinness and executive-produced by Fey and by former ''30 Rock'' showrunner

Robert Carlock Robert Morgan Carlock (born September 21, 1972) is an American screenwriter and producer. He has worked as a writer for several NBC television comedies, and as a showrunner for ''30 Rock'', which was created by his recurring collaborator, comedia ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGuinness, Colleen American people of Irish descent American people of Korean descent American women television writers Living people American women screenwriters Screenwriters from Texas People from Killeen, Texas Screenwriters from New York (state) People from Islip (town), New York American television writers 21st-century American women Harvard University alumni 1977 births